NUS express concern over graduate employment

Despite the increase in graduate employment the National Union of Students (NUS) has expressed its concern over the type of work that university leavers are being offered.

The NUS also claimed that an "old boys club" culture was restricting the opportunities of graduates of certain universities.

Commenting on the latest employment figures, NUS president Gemma Tumelty, said: "Students face huge levels of graduate debt and therefore some stark choices about whether they can afford to volunteer to raise their skill set, hold on for that ideal job, or add further qualifications - and in many cases debt denies them any real choice at all."

She added: "Furthermore NUS calls on employers to look at graduates from the whole range of universities that exist across the UK, and not persist in recruiting, 'old boys club' style, from a distinct, but also often distinctly privileged set of graduates from the so called elite universities."

According to the latest graduate employment figures compiled by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, university leavers who receive a first have an unemployment rate of just 4.4 per cent.